The Big Tech Show

This week, Adrian sits down for an exclusive chat with Ryan Smith, the charismatic Utah founder of the €2bn software firm Qualtrics.As well as being one of the fastest growing tech companies in the world, Smith is on a mission to battle cancer. He started his company when he quit college to look after his father, who was diagnosed with cancer. While his dad survived, Qualtrics’ Irish boss Dermot Costello passed away earlier this year from cancer. (Costello, a huge presence in the Irish tech industry, spoke about this at length in a written interview with Adrian in January when he new he had only days to live. You can read it in full here: https://www.independent.ie/business/technology/news/tech-boss-choosing-to-define-his-life-by-optimism-not-illness-36456505.html)Smith talks about Costello’s importance to him personally and to Qualtrics and explains why the company has named its new Dublin headquarters after Costello.He also talks about his zeal for ‘5 For The Fight’, the $50m campaign he set up to battle cancer via research and how the Irish chapter has already raised close to €200,000 in less than a year.Smith also talks about the “underbelly” of the tech boom, which comes as in the form of soaring rents and property prices.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Adrian and the panel discuss the thorny question of whether social media services should be allowed — or obliged — to kick people off for airing views and opinions that are considered extreme or dangerous.It’s an issue that Twitter is currently hamfistedly trying to deal with in the case of Alex Jones, the American conspiracy theorist whose InfoWars channel has been accused of stirring up violent sentiment through its broadcasts and editorials. (Jones has argued that the September 11th terrorist attacks in the US were “an inside job” and that the Sandy Hook massacre, which killed innocent children, never happened.)Facebook and YouTube have kicked Jones and Infowars off. Are they right?Is this a question of freedom of speech or sensible policing by the social networks?Joining Adrian to debate the issue are Constantin Gurdiev, a professor of finance and a former editor of Business & Finance, and Jason O’Mahony, a political pundit and regular columnist with the Times Ireland Edition and Sunday Times.Gurdiev argues that it’s an overstep on the part of the social networks to ban voices, even ones as repugnant as Jones, as social networks are public spaces now.O’Mahony says that it’s proportionate to ban characters like Jones.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

They came to Dublin to seek success and fortune.This week, Adrian Weckler sits down with two ambitious, successful young entrepreneurs who have one thing in common: they came to Dublin for the promise of its tech industry.What did they find? Is Dublin the real tech capital they had heard about? Can you make it big here? What about those who say that Dublin is just a glorified big outsourcing centre for multinationals?American Austin Spivey (head of operations for Wia Technologies) and Sergei Lyubka (co-founder and CTO Of Cesanta) give a frank assessment of what’s good and bad about Dublin.Unsurprisingly, accommodation comes across as a nightmare.“I’ve found it harder to get an apartment here than in San Francisco,” says Spivey. “I would say that it’s really tough.”On the other hand, the quality of the people in Dublin and the number of other companies performing at a high level is a big draw, say Spivey and Lyubka.“Dublin is a proper tech capital,” says Lyubka. “Most of our market is the US so we could locate anywhere but Dublin is where we want to be.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week Adrian Weckler looks at the list of sins Facebook is again having to answer for. Joined by political correspondent Laura Larkin and business editor Donal O’Donovan, the panel assesses Facebook’s excuses to an Irish government committee and looks at what might happen in the short term. Will there be a Digital Safety Commissioner? Will any political regulation actually materialise? And do people really care about all the hoopla around Facebook in the first place?The matter of a fresh tech bubble is also explored, partially triggered by Facebook’s huge fall in valuation after its earnings report last week. But are today’s tech companies really overvalued or is this just more doom-mongering by commentators hoping to be correct at some point? The panel looks at the companies involved and the basic factors that could prove or disprove the existence of bloated valuations.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There is a downside to tech cities. On the US west coast, where the biggest tech companies have their headquarters, there is also terrible homelessness.In this podcast episode, Adrian goes to Seattle, arguably America’s fastest-growing tech metropolis.He poses the question; why is homelessness is so bad in a city that’s booming so much?While Amazon, Microsoft, Boeing and other huge firms soar, so does the number of people in tent cities alongside roads in the city.It’s a dystopian scenario. Adrian asks the leaders of local homelessness organisations why it’s happening and talks to one local politician about the connections between big tech companies and the poverty problem.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Having tested dozens of handsets this year, Adrian Weckler gives his verdict on what the best cameraphone on the market is at present.It comes down to a battle between three models: Huawei’s P20 Pro, Apple’s iPhone X and Samsung’s Galaxy S9 Plus. Adrian picks the winner, the runner up and the also-ran, as well as a budget alternative.Adrian also looks at some of the best summer technology gadgets on the market right now, including the best new drone, portable power bank and travel camera.Adrian also asks an awkward question: should the biggest tech companies be doing more to get involved with local communities in Ireland?He looks at the cases of Google, Facebook and Apple and compares them to a time 100 years ago when giant companies like Guinness felt a deeper responsibility to helping out in the communities they operated in.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Adrian gets a behind-the-scenes tour of Microsoft’s campus headquarters in Redmond, Seattle.This includes a preview of the latest in he company’s ‘mixed reality’ headset, Hololens. It also includes a discussion on the ethics and future of artificial intelligence, which Microsoft is laying great emphasis on.The company also lays out some futuristic plans, including a data centre under the sea.And it gives a complete rundown of what the office of the future might look like, including giant collaborative touchscreens and meetings controlled by voice assistants.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Adrian Weckler talks to two women directing crucial operations in two of the world’s biggest tech companies.The Big Tech Show travelled to Seattle to meet Emma Williams, the Dubliner who’s now Microsoft’s corporate vice president for Office Products Group.As she tells Adrian, it was originally the study of Old Norse and Anglo Saxon English in Trinity College that gave Williams a propensity to learn open source code.20 years on, Williams is directing some of Microsoft’s most important products, having left her mark on Bing, artificial intelligence and one of its newest initiatives, Microsoft Teams.Adrian then met Emily Vacher, Facebook’s director of trust and safety.A former FBI agent, Emily recounts why she joined America’s famed law enforcement agency and how that led to a career in Facebook. She also talks about the tech giant’s latest initiative in Ireland, where Facebook has teamed up with An Garda Siochana to distribute alerts whenever there is a credible threat of a child being abducted.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How has it come to a situation where a big tech company announcing 1,000 new jobs is freaking people out?This week’s Amazon jobs announcement has led to a backlash from people who feel it will put extra pressure on rents and infrastructure in the capital.“Where will they live?”“Oh great, even higher rents...”“Why are these jobs all in Dublin?”“How many will come from abroad?”20, 10 or even five years ago, big job announcements were seen as a huge boost to the country.Today, they’re seen as a threat.Adrian Weckler and Irish Independent environment editor Paul Melia discuss the origins of the problem and potential solutions.The resentment appears to come from those trying to buy a home or rent an apartment. The already sparse stock of available accommodation gets thinner and thinner. A two-bedroom terraced ex-council home that sold for €280,000 three years ago now costs €400,000. A 450 square foot one-bed apartment that cost €900 now costs €1,200.Engineers can afford to pay this. Retail or service industry workers can’t.At the heart of the problem is the feeling that we haven’t gotten our act together on housing and infrastructure.So more and more of us are being squeezed out of parts of the city where rents and house prices are rocketing.But instead of blaming ourselves (planners, politicians, councillors, lawyers and countless Nimby-addled community associations) for the Wild West property market, we’re turning on companies offering new jobs.If only multinational firms would stop coming in with these jobs, things might be easier for ‘ordinary people’.Get lost, Google. Feck off, Facebook. Adios, Amazon.But are we that bad at steering our own country?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Are robots actually becoming intelligent?”“Is my job under threat from intelligent machines?”“How close are Google, Amazon and Apple to giving me a real assistant?”“Is Elon Musk right that machines are going to wake up and start killing us?”These are the practical questions that dominate today’s discussions around artificial intelligence.Adrian Weckler sits down with AI expert and founder of SoapBox Labs, Patricia Scanlon, to go through dozens of ordinary questions about what will now happen in normal life with AI on the rise.The two also discuss the latest developments in voice recognition technology, including the question over whether we should have a right to know when we’re talking to a chatbot.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Adrian Weckler and Dr Mick O’Kerrigan from RecommenderX discuss 20 of the dumbest, faddiest tech ideas in recent years.From connected forks and ‘smart umbrellas’ to 3D televisions and digital photo frames, the two mercilessly condemn the worst of our tech gadgets to their hall of shame.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“I run a sports club – does this mean I have to ask them for permission to email now?”“Is it the end of cold-calling?”“What about if I want to email everyone about a charity I’m supporting?”These are the practical questions that many are asking as Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force.Adrian Weckler sits down with Daragh O’Brien (founder of data privacy expert firm Castlebridge) to go through dozens of layman questions about what will now happen in everyday business – and normal life – under the new law.Adrian also drops in on Pointy, the Dublin startup that has seen its product-discovery technology adopted by one in seven Dublin retail outlets. He talks with company founders Mark Cummins and Charles Bibby about their story and what the future has in store.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adrian is joined by culture journalist Roisin Kiberd and INM’s head of product (and Sunday Independent columnist) Steve Dempsey to pore through some of the biggest tech tissues of the week.- Do people have a right to know that they’re talking to a robot (such as Google’s Duplex)? Is it amazing or creepy?- Has Ireland made a mistake in choosing 16 as the digital age of consent rather than 13, like the UK? While there are pros and cons to the higher age, there’s a nagging feeling that it may be unenforceable and, ironically, let tech companies off the hook for properly catering to young teenagers (as it can now assume they’re all 16).- Twitter starts hiding replies from those it deems to be ‘trolls’;- Facebook’s removal of fake accounts and millions of pieces of content involving extreme violence or pornography;- Airbnb to be banned from parts of Amsterdam – will more and more cities follow?- Banks trawling through your social media – honesty or a step too far?- How Elon Musk and Grimes got together over a nerdy science fiction joke about artificial intelligence.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What sort of power do ‘influencers’ really yield?Adrian sits down with one of the most powerful social media figures in Ireland, who is a wanted man by commercial brands.James Kavanagh explains what he does, why it works and how he is now earning a multiple of what he did in previous jobs.Honesty and originality, he says, are key attributes, as well a particularly strong work ethic. He discusses how coming from a family of strongly motivated individuals, including his famous brother (Conor McGregor’s trainer), has influenced his aptitude to graft.James also talks about why Snapchat — the platform that originally gave him his biggest boost — now appears to be “stagnating” compared to Instagram.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What’s the story with self-driving cars coming to Ireland? How will it all affect insurance? Will middle-aged men be able to bear giving up ‘control’ of their ‘rides’? And which cars already have significant self-driving capabilities?Adrian sits down with two people who know all about it, Geraldine Herbert (Sunday Independent and editor of wheelsforwomen.ie) and Philip McNamara, co-founder of Mobility X, which is looking at the near future for autonomous vehicles.The panel also look at the problems being faced with electric cars in Ireland, particularly why Irish people won’t buy them. And there’s a discussion on the very worst type of passengers which you might get stuck with.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Communications Minister Denis Naughten sits down with Adrian and Fearghal O’Connor to talk of plans to make high speed broadband an “enforceable legal right” in Ireland.The Roscommon TD also says that a new mobile coverage map for Ireland will become available at the end of the year, showing where all the blackspots are.And after weeks of controversy, Minister Naughten also answers a few questions about media plurality in Ireland and when a ministerial opinion differs from a personal opinion when talking on the phone.Other topics covered include the struggle of electric cars in Ireland, why the Minister himself doesn’t drive one and the future of Eir.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week Adrian sits down with the Emmy award-winning Boston tycoon who is the last man standing in Ireland’s controversial National Broadband Plan – Enet chairman David McCourt. Joined by Sunday Independent deputy editor Fearghal O’Connor, they discuss politics, Donald Trump, Angelina Jolie and the prospects for rural Ireland.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Adrian talks about digital consent, kids, Facebook, privacy and all points in between with Dylan Collins, the Tipperary founder and chief executive of SuperAwesome, a ‘kid tech’ company he founded five years ago and which is now valued at over $100m.Adrian and Dylan debate some basic truths about the internet and social media, and also look Mark Zuckerberg’s performance in front of the US Congress during the week.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Adrian is joined by the CTO of Europe’s biggest airline, Ryanair. John Hurley talks about the barrier to putting wifi in the planes, those trumpet noises and whether Ryanair can really become the “Amazon of travel”. He also explains why, despite things like reserved seating now on offer, Ryanair won’t ever be getting into ‘business class’. The Sunday Independent’s deputy business editor, Fearghal O’Connor, is on hand to keep things civilised.The panel also unbox Apple’s new sixth generation iPad and wonder aloud why telecoms executives and aviation executives tend to wear the same clothes.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What are the rules when it comes to dating people you work with? In tech companies, there are some interesting new guidelines emerging.To discuss this, Adrian is joined by Green Party leader Eamon Ryan TD and Irish Independent journalist Katie Byrne.The three also discuss the future for electric cars and whether we’re caught up in too many techno-fuelled upgrade bubbles, resulting in poor environmental practices.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Facebook is a mess — but are we really deleting it from our lives?Adrian is joined by outspoken privacy expert Daragh O’Brien and the group editor of Independent News & Media, Dearbhail McDonald, to talk about the fallout from the omnishambles that has been Facebook’s last week.Is this a basic question of right and wrong? Or are there other agendas at work?Will people really walk away from Facebook? Is the Cambridge Analytica episode a genuine tipping point for privacy law?Tune in for a full-throated discussion with a few conspiracy theories thrown in.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adrian sits down with Helen Dixon, the most powerful data protection enforcer in Europe.Dixon talks about the factors and contexts involved in dealing with the likes of Facebook, Yahoo, Google and other big firms, which are based in Ireland.The possible birth of a national identity card is also discussed.In a frank exchange, Dixon also refutes the claim, sometimes thrown by critics of Ireland’s data protection record, that it’s a bad thing for her office to act as a sounding board for Facebook when it wants to introduce new features.And she also warns that the upcoming GDPR will see some significant fines landing on companies across the land.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Adrian sits down with journalist Roisin Kiberd and Dublin TD Noel Rock to talk about Twitter, having a social media ‘score’ and Samsung’s newest Galaxy S9 phone.Rock talks about using Twitter as a medium and what to do when you get it wrong. The panel also looks at China’s dystopian new ‘Sesame Credit’ score where citizens are rated according to everyday tasks such as separating their bins properly.There’s also a discussion about the controversial Personal Services Card and the impact of International Women’s Day on tech companies, while Adrian takes the panel through an unboxing of Samsung’s €1,000 Galaxy S9+ smartphone.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adrian sits down with DIT head of design Barry Sheehan and freelance culture journalist Roisin Kiberd to talk about whether AirBnb is helping society or damaging it.Sheehan, who rents out his one-bed house in Dublin using AirBnb, says that it’s not detracting from the rental stock available to struggling families.The panel also looks at the short New York Times career of Quinn Norton, whether journalists should be free to express opinions on Twitter and the new phenomenon of people picking fights with robots.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adrian sits down with award-winning Irish press photographer, Steve Humphreys, to talk about the best cameras on the market, how to take a good photo and what type of camera you should use on different occasions.Is a full frame model really necessary? What are some good tips to get the best out of a single lens when travelling? Where does taking photos of people now sit with modern privacy rules?Steve also recounts some dramatic personal stories from his life as a press photographer, including the moments behind some of his most famous award-winning shots.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Best phone? Or Windows laptop under €1,000? What about noise-cancelling headphones? Or mid-level camera? Adrian is joined by Independent tech whizz (and Dublin Roller Derby maestro) Sara Devine to go through some of the most common buying decisions that listeners throw up. Sara and Adrian also pit the iPad Pro against Microsoft’s Surface Pro in what turns out t be something of a hardware battle royale.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Web Summit founder Paddy Cosgrave sits down with Adrian to talk bluntly about Irish journalism, politics, the property crisis, the future of tech and a skewed balance of power that multinational firms have over Ireland’s industrial future. Paddy also talks about AI and cryptocurrencies ahead of Moneyconf, the Web Summit’s financial technology event happening in Dublin this June.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adrian is joined by former Ireland rugby player (and Android enthusiast) Mike Ross and long time Apple user Dermot Daly to talk about the latest phones. The three compare the iPhone X to top Android models, including Samsung’s S8, and look at which one to choose.The panel also digs down into other recent developments, such as Amazon’s launch of Alexa into the Irish market and whether it’s worth getting an Echo, Echo Dot or Echo Plus, or whether it’s worth holding on for an Apple HomePod.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adrian is joined by Leinster and Ireland rugby international player Jamie Heaslip, who talks about his favourite tech and why he has become a keen investor in a number of Irish startups.Jamie also talks about being an adult intern in Google (twice), his admiration for blockchain technology and his future after rugby.Other topics this week include smart homes, Elon Musk, electric cars and Apple.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Adrian talks to one of the world’s most infamous hackers, Kevin Mitnick, about what it’s like to be on the run for two years, get caught and then spend a year in solitary confinement.Mitnick says that he was punished too harshly for his crimes and that the companies he hacked did not suffer to the extent they pleaded.Adrian is also joined in studio by the Dublin co-founder of one of Silicon Valley’s fastest growing startups. Intercom’s Des Traynor talks to Adrian about ‘unicorn’ tags, how he and his cofounders persuaded Twitter boss Biz Stone to become an investor and whether tech culture has become toxic. They also discuss some of the issues around gender imbalances in tech at present.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After a week of tech utopia at CES, Adrian looks at the some of the gadgets to come out of it – the growing influence of Alexa, giant TVs, drone cars and the coming wave of AR and VR glasses.These topics, together with artificial intelligence in our daily lives, are discussed with this week’s guest, one of Ireland’s most successful tech entrepreneurs. Steve Collins built gaming companies such as Havok and Kore, more recently, co-founding the fast-growing mobile firm Swrve. He now focuses his energy as an investor in future technology for Dublin-based Frontline VC.Adrian and Steve also look at whether Elon Musk is right to warn us all about the coming robot tide.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Bitcoin will reach $200,000 by the end of 2018.” That’s the view of Reuben Godfrey, one of Adrian’s guests on today’s show, who insists that the rise in the cryptocurrency’s valuation is not a bubble.Another Bitcoin expert, John Gleeson, explains to the podcast how to go about buying Bitcoin for the first time if you’re a beginner.We also discuss the cost and process of replacing your phone’s cracked screen.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adrian is joined by award-winning tech journalist Marie Boran and INM ‘newsonomics’ expert Steve Dempsey to talk about whether the media will survive in 2018.The three also take a look at how robotics and social media will affect society in the next 12 months and go through the most important trends of 2017.There’s a last chance to win one of two Motorola Moto G5 smartphones.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is the ‘gig economy’ exploitative or a source of opportunity? Adrian discusses its pros and cons with Oisin Hanrahan, the 34-year-old Dubliner who raised €100m for Handy.com, an online cleaning and handyman service he cofounded.The two also look at gadgets, artificial intelligence and whether Facebook has more responsibility to society now than it did in previous years.There’s also one of two Motorola Moto G5 smartphones to be won.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the first episode of The Big Tech Show, technology editor Adrian Weckler and Neva-Labs cofounder Mark Little discuss startups, gadgets, Facebook and the future of social media.Little, a former RTE Prime Time anchor, Storyful founder and head of Twitter Ireland, questions the quality of the news that Facebook and other social networks show us every day.Weckler and Little also compare existing media funding models with emerging ones, such as Patreon.Little also explains some of the barriers of building a global startup out of Dublin.And there’s a quick roundup of the gadgets to avoid giving your loved ones this Christmas.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.